Friends, the Calgary Flames aren’t having a very good season.

And there are two topics that we’ve heard about a lot from our readers, viewers and listeners over the past month or two: one, are the Flames tanking yet?, and two, when’s the NHL Draft again?

As the Flames remain low in the standings and June’s entry draft inches closer, we suspect everyone will become increasingly interested in the 2026 NHL Draft class. And there’s no better opportunity to jump-start your draft prep than the upcoming 2025 CHL USA Prospects Challenge, coming to southern Alberta next week.

These games come during a fascinating period in the hockey world, and we caught up with Canadian Hockey League president Dan McKenzie recently to pick his brain about all of it.

There’s an old adage: may you live in interesting times. (We’re not entirely sure if it’s meant positively or negatively.) A former NBA Canada executive, McKenzie succeeded David Branch as CHL president in Sept. 2019 and is tasked with steering the ship for the umbrella organization that oversees Canada’s three major junior leagues (the Western, Ontario and Quebec Maritimes Leagues).

“We’re dealing with a lot of change, right?” said McKenzie. “So when I joined, I started and six months later, COVID hit. And from that point on, it really has been there’s been a lot. There’s just been lots of things to deal with that are more sort of, I’d say, macro level.”

The biggest change to Canada’s junior hockey landscape was the NCAA’s Nov. 2024 decision to allow players with CHL experience to be eligible for college hockey, which took effect this past August. It’s caused untold ripple effects in the hockey development sphere.

“It really changed the entire, you know, development path for players,” said McKenzie. “And that’s been something we’ve been spending a ton of time on over the last year in terms of what the implications are. And it’s still pretty early days in terms of what it’s going to what it’s going to mean. But some pretty meaty things to deal with, for sure.”

With all the changes happening, and other changes possibly happening down the line, how do McKenzie and the rest of the CHL and junior hockey brass ensure they react in the right way?

“We spend a lot of time talking to people about, we have a really strong relationship with the NHL and their GMs and their Central Scouting people. And so a lot of it is about just trying to gather information and try to read the tea leaves a little bit in terms of what’s going to happen. But you don’t really know what’s going to happen until it happens. And I think with the more time that goes on, the more data we’ll have. I think you’ve got to sort of understand, you know, what the trends are and then try to make the best decisions you can. But ultimately, you also have the ability to course correct, right? Like a lot of the stuff is regulatory. And at the end of the day, you can work with the entities that you’re negotiating with to make changes if you need to down the line. So nothing needs to be forever. But it is challenging. We don’t know exactly all the inputs and when it’s all going to land at the end of the day.”

The 2025 CHL USA Prospects Challenge is the second edition of the event, which itself serves as an evolution of the old CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game, which was held between 1996 and 2024. While the old format only included draft eligible players from the three CHL member leagues, the new format pits a CHL all-star team of draft eligible players against the U.S. National Development Program’s under-18 team.

“I think for the fans, it’s an absolute must-watch,” said McKenzie. “I mean, if you can get to these games in Calgary, you should if you’re a hockey fan. And, I know the Flames, unfortunately haven’t gone off to the greatest start. And I know you guys have multiple first-round picks this year. I mean, you’re likely going to see the future of the Flames on the ice in these games.”

Case in point: the Flames selected two players from the 2024 Prospects Challenge in last year’s draft: Cole Reschny (Team CHL) and Mace’o Phillips (Team USA). And this year’s event should provide a good preview of this year’s class. Of the 27 A-rated prospects on Central Scouting’s fall watch list, 16 are represented on the CHL and USA rosters. There are a dozen projected first-rounders featured from Steven Ellis’s September rankings.

For draft junkies, the Prospects Challenge fits a really unique spot in the calendar. The Hlinka Gretzky Cup is in August, before the season has really begun for most players. The Under-18 Worlds are in April, when the CHL’s playoffs are still ongoing. The Prospects Challenge falls right in the middle and provides a unique window for best-on-best action.

“It really is a best on best and the way the calendar falls, and not that the entire CHL team is going to be Canadians, but generally, you know, Canada sends its, its best at this age group to the Hlinka Gretzky,” said McKenzie. “The Americans don’t because their NTDP is wrapped up at the Worlds, right, which happened in April. And so this really is for the age group that the one opportunity where you’re seeing the best American draft eligible players playing against the best draft eligible players in the CHL.”

Earlier this month, Le Journal de Quebec reported there had been discussions about the USHL joining the CHL, as part of a recent meeting at the NHL’s New York offices that included the CHL, its three member leagues, the USHL, USA Hockey, Hockey Canada and the NHL. McKenzie confirmed that the meeting took place, but noted that the talks were very high level at that gathering.

“We did have a meeting in New York a couple weeks ago,” said McKenzie. “It was very, very, you know, 35,000 feet, blue sky. Hey, what could be some things that we can talk about? The meeting was really about more about, you know, how’s everyone doing changes to the landscape. But way too early to put any stock in anything. The relationships are good. The NHL is obviously a very interested party. The federations are both very interested. But there’s, there’s nothing really in terms of anything concrete to chat about at this point.”

Meanwhile, one thing that is happening in the near future is a re-opening of the CHL NHL Transfer Agreement, stemming out of the new NHL collective bargaining agreement. The aim is for NHL clubs to be able to place one 19-year-old per organization in the AHL rather than having them restricted to the CHL, but the precise details of how that will all work have yet to be ironed out.

“Yeah, it’s in progress,” said McKenzie. “So that is something that the NHL has brought to us in terms of something they want to talk about. I think their clubs would like to have a little bit more flexibility on some players who don’t stick with their NHL clubs. So we’re having some dialogue both internally and eventually we’ll be doing it fairly soon with the NHL just around how we might be able to balance their need for some flexibility with the impacts on our league.”

We truly are in interesting times for the CHL and everyone in the hockey development system.

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